Too Much Protein??

Lauren882

Is there such a thing as too much protein? I have my day planned out and I'm over my protein.....I've noticed that this happens a lot.

Is it something I need to be more careful about??

chgudnitz

Don't worry about it. The protein set on here is low. Look at it as a minimum. The average recommended amount of protein is usually .5g for every 1 pound of body weight.

nhodgson

Thanks for the info! I have the same problem, I'm always over on my protein too, and was starting to get concerned that maybe it's a problem.

SHBoss1673

Is there such a thing? Sure, are you reaching that level? Probably not. If you're 10 or 20 grams over your daily, you're fine. In fact, you're probably better off there. MFP does tend to go pretty low on the protein numbers.

nhodgson

Thanks Boss It's good to know that my average overage in the protein department is not critical :happy:

Being relatively new here (2 weeks today), I'm still trying to absorb all the information floating around out there, and trying to decipher which is really good advice and which isn't. I have noticed that you have helped a lot of people with a lot of questions, and manage to explain so anyone can understand! The time you spend answering everyone's questions is much appreciated!!! Thank you!

It helps to know that the values MFP protein recommends are low, but, If I go by the recommendation of 0.5g for every pound of body weight, I should be eating about 129g of protein per day. That seems like an awful lot of protein, especially when MFP tells me I should be eating 49g/day (before extra earned from exercise). So, how do I know what is reasonable and what is really too much?

And, what about the sugar? I've realized very quickly that I can no longer eat honey on my toast for breakfast :sad: but I'm finding that if I eat more than 1 piece of fruit a day it puts me over my sugar limit for the day, and sometimes even 1 piece of fruit is enough to send me over the limit. For the most part, I don' t eat packaged or prepared meals, and don't use sauce mixes or anything like that. I try to limit the salad dressings also because I've also realized they are high in sugar. What am I doing wrong?

chgudnitz

The reason the protein is low on here is because your calories are low. If you go by the .5g per pound, its not to much. It's just that you wont have enough calories for essential fats and carbs. As far as sugar, try not to go over on that. Try eating some fruits that are not high in sugar. Processed sugars are the enemy though, not the natural ones from fruit.

I hope this helps a little, let us know if you have more ?s.

nhodgson

That helps a lot! Thanks so much for taking the time. It's much appreciated.

SHBoss1673

The reason the protein is low on here is because your calories are low. If you go by the .5g per pound, its not to much. It's just that you wont have enough calories for essential fats and carbs. As far as sugar, try not to go over on that. Try eating some fruits that are not high in sugar. Processed sugars are the enemy though, not the natural ones from fruit.

I hope this helps a little, let us know if you have more ?s.

This isn't necessarily true. By that I mean, yeah, the calories they give you are low when you compare them to maintenance calories; but also, they give you a 65/30/15 % carb/fat/protein ratio on here (I think). I don't think that's a great ratio for reasonable weight loss, it's not horrible, but it's a bit carb heavy. I always edit mine when I do goals. I like 50/25/25 for most people, for weight lifters and people trying to gain muscle mass and not really looking to lose (or lose much) I usually tell them to do a 45/25/30 ratio of carbs/fat/protein. That's about what I am at and it works pretty well for maintenance. Plus it can break you of the carb addiction that many of us have.

As to sugar. One piece of fruit shouldn't put you over the edge, and if you space out the sugar through the day, never eating a TON in one sitting, going over isn't going to do much damage. Also take into account fructose (fruit sugar) takes longer to metabolize then table sugar, and isn't quite as bad for you , as it doesn't spike the blood sugar and cause cholesterol and insulin spikes, that's also a good thing. so if you ARE going to eat sugar, try to do it by way of fruit, it's far better then stuff like processed flour carbs (white flour). Add to that the fact that fruit has lots of fiber and vitamins, and it's a decent option even taking the sugar into account. Don't feel bad about eating fruit, just try to limit the fruit juice, it doesn't contain the fiber, and thus the sugar metabolizes far faster then solid fruit.

-Banks

nhodgson

Thanks Banks! I'll try editing my ratio in goals and see what happens. And I do prefer a piece of fruit to fruit juice. Juice doesn't satisfy you like a piece of fruit does, and I find it way to easy to drink too much juice (too big of a glass)... but I do like the reduced sodium V8

Cheers,
Nancie

SHBoss1673

Thanks Banks! I'll try editing my ratio in goals and see what happens. And I do prefer a piece of fruit to fruit juice. Juice doesn't satisfy you like a piece of fruit does, and I find it way to easy to drink too much juice (too big of a glass)... but I do like the reduced sodium V8

Cheers,
Nancie

V8's ok, it's not fruit juice (mainly). And doesn't contain a ton of sugar. Watch the sodium on the V8 though, go for the low sodium one if you can. I drink 1 low sodium V8 every day. It's equivalent to 2 servings of veggies.

nhodgson

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated :flowerforyou:
It is the vegetable V8 I prefer (low sodium). The "fruit" ones are okay, but I can taste the colouring in them, and I don't like that.

My 18 cherries for breakfast had a sugar count of 18g according to the database... that's half my sugar for the day. Is this normal?

Again, many thanks for your helpful advice.

Cheers,
Nancie

SHBoss1673

Thanks for the advice. Much appreciated :flowerforyou:
It is the vegetable V8 I prefer (low sodium). The "fruit" ones are okay, but I can taste the colouring in them, and I don't like that.

My 18 cherries for breakfast had a sugar count of 18g according to the database... that's half my sugar for the day. Is this normal?

Again, many thanks for your helpful advice.

Cheers,
Nancie

Oh you were referring to the V8 Splashes? Different horse all together. As to the cherries, sure, that's normal, but 18's a lot FYI.

nhodgson

Thanks for the info. I guess I'm still struggling with portion control :embarassed: Maybe one of these days it will all come together.